Postgame Quotes - March 9, 2012

Pistons vs Hawks

(On the game) "Well, in the third quarter we established a defensive tone. They started the game hitting what their first, what, eight shots? We were scoring but defensively we didn't impose any defensive will in the game. The third quarter we came out with stops and held to 12 points in the third quarter, we only had one turnover, and we moved the ball. We had pretty decent looks even in the first half. Until the last six minutes of the second quarter, we were getting good looks and the ball was moving. Turnovers were a problem; third quarter we played much better basketball and in the fourth quarter we had six turnovers, struggled a little bit against their zone. We were a little stagnant. Tay (Tayshaun Prince) bailed us out twice making two huge shots against the zone. At the end was a needed bucket, Tay delivered and a needed stop, we were able to get the stop. Rodney was right in Joe's (Johnson) airspace and they ran out of time. If there was an MVP of this game it was Jason Maxiell. He was huge. I thought both of our fours, Jason and Jonas (Jerebko) combined did a great job. As you guys know Josh Smith has been playing at a very, very high level. He has 30-plus points over three of his last four games, but Max again, with that offensive tip in, momentum changing play when things were going a little bit stale, was great tonight."

(On Jason Maxiell) "I thought Max was super. I think the tandem with him and Jonas was great. Max was a game changer tonight. He was very, very good on both ends and initially tough start against Josh Smith, but collectively, as a group, we started to get better. I thought Max in the third quarter really did a good job of trying to limit some of the things Josh was doing. He (Josh Smith) was consistently making those elbows replace jump shots. He was big. Greg (Monroe) was really able to finish in the paint and a lot of that was a result of ball movement. Ben Gordon had some very good passes, making plays for others. We grinded it out and found a way to win against a quality opponent."

(On last play) "So, what we did was put Rodney on (Jeff) Teague, we put Tay on Joe Johnson. We know they like to run a two-one pick and roll. We put Damien on Marvin Williams so we had more size and the game plan was when they came together was to switch it and then the switch was executed well. There was good communication and Joe Johnson was turned in to an isolation; Rodney got up in his airspace and forced the contested jumper."

(On Jason Maxiell): "Max was on fire today and it was good to see. We've been seeing it in practice, so it was good to see."

(On the difference in Maxiell this year): "He's had consistent playing time. Max is a good player and he makes his shots. He's a great player."

(On progression): "Definitely, we're getting better and better as the season progresses. It's too bad we got off to that bad start to the season, but there's not a whole lot you can do about that right now. We just have to keep working hard and keep playing together."

(On beating Atlanta after losing to them earlier): "We came out with an unacceptable effort last time and we wanted to show them we're a better team than that and I think we showed that tonight."

(On second half): "I think the defense is what fired us up. We got stops; I think they scored 12 points in that quarter. The defense fired us up and we shared the ball on offense and we had a team win."

(On team’s play down the stretch) "Well, we didn't make the plays down the stretch but for the whole game, defensively, we weren't very good. We're not that team that shoots close to 56 percent for the game. We're not going to beat many teams on this level. Defensively we didn't make a stand. Physically we had no presence; particularly on the road you have to grind it out. We talked about it before we hit the floor."

(On Josh Smith’s foul trouble): "It wasn't just during that period. It was pretty much during the whole game but when Josh (Smith) did leave the game it kind of changed things as far as what we wanted to do. We didn't get the production from the bench that we've gotten the last few games but when guys got into foul trouble we had to change some things up. We tried the zone a little bit which was good."

(On comebacks): "I said that all along; I think sometimes you can get a little complacent knowing that you do have ability to come back but you're playing with fire when you do that. Not on this level, can you continue to put yourself in that position and think that you have the ability to do that."

(On the Pistons): "They've been playing good as of late. They came in off beating the Lakers, playing from behind most of the game. They came in and were able to get a win tonight."

(On their defense): "They had a good third quarter. I think we didn't let them feel us defensively the whole game. They shot a high percentage and whenever you give a team that much of a good chance to make shots you're not going to win that many basketball games."

(On Jason Maxiell's offense): "They made shots. Maxiell (Jason) hit a ton of jump shots tonight. He's (Jason Maxiell) been hitting jumpers this season but he hit a lot tonight. You can live with guys making jump shots and not being able to get in your paint."